SEPT/OCT 2014
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business elite canada 41
While working in Lambton County he later ob-
tained an MBA.
Reflecting on the evolution of Sarnia Lamb-
ton, Mallay says its current incarnation began
in 1994 with the establishment of the Council
for Economic Renewal. After a large downturn
in the chemical industry at the time, there
was strong involvement from the private sec-
tor and much community consultation that
occurred in 1994 and 1995 among business,
labour groups, and government. The Coun-
cil for Economic Renewal merged with Sar-
nia Lambton’s Economic Development Office
in 1999 and the Sarnia Lambton Economic
Partnership— a public-private sector corpo-
ration— was the result. In terms of economic
development, Sarnia Lambton is instrumental
in the growth of the current petrochemical
and energy industry in the region, which has
remained strong and continued to evolve over
the decades until the corporate downsizing of
the 1990s.
“Our focus since about 2000 has really been
about getting more diversification within the
petrochemical and energy industry,” said Mal-
lay.
Right now that diversification is embodied
in three target areas of focus of Sarnia Lamb-
ton’s refining and chemicals complex: oil and
natural gas liquids coming from Alberta, shale
gas coming from the Marcellus Formation in
the Eastern United States, and Sarnia Lamb-
ton’s own local feed stocks. Concentration is
on bio–based products.
“Eighty per cent of the biomass grown in
Western Sarnia Lambton
Research Park
